Swiggy, Zomato, others remove 10,500 restaurants for violating food safety law
As many as 10,500 restaurants have been delisted by e-commerce firms like Zomato and Swiggy for not having license or registration under the food safety law, Parliament was told Friday.
Restaurant aggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato need to examine Press Note 2 closely, issued by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion this month. Although the Note, which issued new guidelines on FDI in e-commerce, appears targeted at e-tailers such as Amazon and Flipkart, food-tech companies are not strictly out of its ambit, lawyers Business Today spoke to are of the opinion.
The Press Note could have unintended consequences on their business models because the definition of ‘e-commerce’ is not just the buying and selling of goods over a digital network – it also includes services.
Commissioner of Food Safety of all states and UTs have been requested to take necessary action to bring all such FBOs or food business operators under the ambit of FSS Act through registration.
No one shall commence or carry on any food business without license or registration under the Act, he said.
Choubey stated further regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and random sampling of food products are carried out by officials to check compliance of the standards and norms.
